MOTHER LOVE

[Maureen K Clifford]

MOTHER LOVE


Her son was born – he did not move - she tried to make him wake
then stood aghast and stared at him. This must be a mistake.
Once more she shook a shoulder small then fell down by his side
and wrapped herself close round him, her stance her pain implied..

The babe was malformed badly – a cruel physical defect
no bottom jaw was there to see – this babe was not perfect.
In every other way it was, but this one would not feed
so nature took the one recourse and showed mercy indeed.

We tried to raise the Mother – her grief was pitiful
she wouldn’t leave her babies side – she thought him beautiful.
She noticed not the gaping wound – the hideous awful grin
She saw the beauty of his soul – the goodness deep within.

We covered up the tiny corpse with sacking from the shed
and got a halter on the ewe, led her away in dread.
We knew if she survived the night that nature would be kind
and dim the memory of the little lamb she left behind.

Her cries all night just broke your heart; she called and called in vain.
We’d disposed of the little lamb – he did not bear a name.
Another orphan lamb we’d found and he cried for his Mother.
Perhaps the two together would be solace for each other.

And so it was – she took to him – let down her milk to feed
the little bloke disconsolate, a little bloke in need.
We watched in wonder as she washed his tiny woolly head
and muttered mother talk to him, as he butted and fed.

But never have I once forgot the anguish that ewe felt.
She mourned for her small lamb’s loss just as I would mourn myself.
Don’t ever think that animals are devoid of emotion
they live and die, and love and laugh, and show their young devotion.

For in their psyche nature rules – the strong outlast the weak.
Nature can be harsh and cruel and havoc she can wreak.
But mostly mother love is strong – it’s what ensures survival
of every species here on earth. Love welcomes each arrival.



Maureen Clifford ©

[Bob Pacey]

Just watched a show on Monkeys Maureen and you are not wrong about the feelings.


Almost makes you believe in evolution.



Bob

[Maureen K Clifford]

My mob have adopted an orangutang I have no issues with the connection

[Zondrae]

G'day Maureen,

Just what I didn't need this morning.... a reason to blubber. This flamin neck/shoulder is giving me curry. I was lucky to get into the physio yesterday but the spasms haven't stopped. I'm constantly putting heat packs on it and taking the drugs which are making me dopy but not really handling the pain when it is at it's worst. (I'll stop whinging now)

Nicely written poem. I have heard of farmers taking the skin from a dead lamb and tying it onto an orphan lamb to make another ewe accept it. Did you write this one from a life experience or is it made up? Did the lamb survive?

The drugs are beginning to kick in so I'm off for a little nap.

[Maureen K Clifford]

Have you tried acupuncture? - I always find that gives me the very best result with these kind of problems and if you have extra cover with your health insurer you will get a refund on it.


This was close to my heart as I saw this little bloke born. Out here where sheep are not closely handled all the time the rule of thumb is you don't touch the lamb because the Mum may well walk off an abandon it because it has human scent on it. I watched her come into the yard near the shearing shed and saw her strain to expel the lamb and thought that was beaut - I am sure I saw it moving as it was born, but then it didn't move. She nosed it and pushed it around, even kicked it, lay down next to it, got up and pushed it around some more.

By that stage I had got to it thinking maybe I could resuscitate it, but it had no bottom jaw. She wouldn't leave it and because the crows would have got to it all I could do was cover it with sacking weighed down with some rocks and wait for my partner to get home with the Ute so that we could take it away. She stood over that lamb all day, in stinking hot weather bleating and guarding it and she cried all night.

The little orphan that she took on did very well but sadly at about 6 weeks he was killed . We think a pig got him. We never skinned the little ones - couldn't do that but we had a really tight crate that we had made up for this type of occasion where the foster ewe could not get away from the orphaned lamb - she had room to move around but could not run anywhere as she was close penned on both sides. Little hungry lambs are most persistent when they want tucker and keep butting the ewe to get them to let their milk down and the more they do this the more of the ewes scent is transferred onto the lamb The ewe will kick out at the lamb and try to fend it off because she knows it is not her baby but eventually usually within 48 hours she accepts the lamb as her own and they now recognize each others voices and are safe to put back in the paddock with the mob as the lamb will now come to her call and she will go to him if he calls. We had quite a high success rate with this and when the lamb /ewe ratio got to high I bottle fed and reared the remainder and just loved doing it.

At one time I had Emma Louise, Oliver James, Bob, Wiggles, and the two baby feral goats Sascha and Teneille all being fed 4 hourly and all camped out in the kitchen with Khadizia the Pit Bull playing nursemaid. Oliver James had scour and so he got a bath every day in Wool Wash before his morning feed, and then was nursed on my lap wrapped in a big towel whilst he had his bottle . I used to mix plain yoghurt in with his milk to stop the scour and that worked well.

Boaedecia raised twin lambs the following year successfully. She was a big ugly rangy ewe but an excellent Mum

Any wonder I loved it out there